Finland's nuclear waste repository

Posted: 6th November 2026

The nuclear waste repository in Finland designed to outlast modern
civilisation. The first engineered structure built to last for 100,000
years is about to begin operations. The hope is that Onkalo, deep below
ground in Finland, will offer a safe place for the country to store nuclear
waste. In fact, facilities such as Onkalo “should exist intact for at
least 100,000, if not a million years”, says Allison Macfarlane at the
University of British Columbia in Canada, who previously served as chair of
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the US. “Those are geologic
timescales.” Onkalo is Finland’s answer to one of the more tricky
questions posed by nuclear power: what do you do with the waste? We are
going to have to get much better at answering it, given nuclear power is
expanding again, driven partly by the hunt for low-carbon energy.

 New Scientist 3rd Nov 2026

 https://www.newscientist.com/article/2595321-the-nuclear-repository-in-finland-designed-to-outlast-modern-civilisation/